In a satiric move, Women of the Wall held a Purim megila reading at the Western
Wall on Monday while dressed as yeshiva bochers (“students”) and
policemen.

Seventeen-year-old Hallel Abramowitz-Silverman, who was
detained at the Western Wall along with nine other women on February 11, dressed
as a prisoner and handcuffed herself to friends dressed as
policemen.

Abramowitz-Silverman received special permission to attend the
megila reading from police, as she had signed a restraining order barring her
from the Western Wall for two weeks after her earlier arrest.

Women of
the Wall founder Anat Hoffman dressed as a yeshiva student and executive
director Lesley Sachs dressed as a policewoman.

Approximately 100
participants attended the reading of the Scroll of Esther. It passed without
incident and no arrests were made, unlike recent prayer services conducted by
the organization that have seen the police detain several female worshipers for
wearing “male” prayer shawls at the site.

Hoffman said that she hoped
that all future Women of the Wall prayer services would pass as peacefully, and
that this could happen “if the police will act against extremists at the Western
Wall and not against women praying together.”